Xiaomi Mi Speaker Review with Video Test

The other day I was browsing some pages on online shopping site GearBest, when I stumbled across the Xiaomi Mi speaker. I immediately loved the design of the speaker and wanted to get my hands on it. So we reached out to GearBest in hopes of doing just that and we just received it last week. After using it as my “every day” for the past week, here’s what I’ve gotten!

Design:

Don’t get me started on the design. This speaker is sweet. It was the very first thing that made me want to get my hands on it. It has a very simple design. The speaker itself is about the size of an average pop can, and it looks like one too! The speaker is housed in a metal body. It has no visible buttons which adds to simplicity. To turn it on you use the volume wheel which loops around the top of the speaker. This is also how you use the play/pause function and the on/off function. That’s a three-in-one. I really believe that they took a lot of time in designing the speaker, because it really shows in the creativity area. Also, they rubberized the bottom of the speaker for traction while turning the speaker up and down. This shows attention to detail, because frankly, I know many other speaker brands that wouldn’t go the extra mile. Check out some pictures I took below!

Sound:

Now besides me raving over the design, let’s dab on the sound quality a bit, isn’t that what speakers are for, sound?
Straight to the point, this speaker is good in the sound department. For some reason, I expected a bit more oomph out of this speaker from the way Xiaomi themselves advertised it. It simply doesn’t get very loud, even at full volume. While it does produce clear highs, the highs aren’t loud. It will fill up an average sized room but that’s about it’s extent. It isn’t good for an outdoor speaker but because the sounds you may hear outside like birds, cars, those annoying neighbors across the street arguing, dogs barking, etc, will drown it out. The mids are just right, clear vocals and instrumentals. Can’t ask for much more. The bass wasn’t a huge let down but it wasn’t necessarily impressive. It creates just what you’d expect in this price range and just like the mids, you cannot ask for much more. It’s hard to truly showcase sound quality over text or even on a video, that’s something you discover whilst using the speaker yourself.Other thoughts:In my video, which you will find at the end of this review, I gave the speaker a 4/5, but I decided to drop that to a 3/5 and here’s why:
Most companies supply you with at least the charging cable and instructions in English. The speaker uses a Micro-USB interface. Now while most people will have roughly a billion of these cables laying around their house, you would think they’d at least provide one. They didn’t. Xiaomi is easily a large enough company that their products reach across the world. With such a large consumer base being in the US, you’d think they’d provide instructions in English, but they failed to do that as well. Not a big deal, because the instructions have pictures that clarify how to use the speaker. Still, it may pose a problem for a large number of people. These may seem small in terms of issues, but when you’re a company as large as Xiaomi, you simply need to do these things.

All in all, just like the sound, this speaker is good. The design is amazing in my honest opinion, but you just can’t judge a speaker off of the design solely. Especially when you’re an audiophile like myself. Would I recommend? Yes. The speaker looks great on your desktop, the sound quality is exactly what it should be, and you’re getting a bang for your buck!
Cheers!

Check out the Video Review and Sound Test

Disclaimer: Gearbest sent us the Xiaomi Mi Speaker to do a thorough and accurate review. All opinions are 100% mine and mine alone.

Nathaniel Wilson

Hello all. Glad you could be here. My born year is 1995 and I have been raising hell ever since. By raising hell, I mean that I love to work on cars, computers, play video games (currently UFC 2), spend time with my family, and simply enjoy the little things. I love what I do and I do nothing else.
Onward!